Site appearance in Google search results FAQ

This article brings together answers to the questions we at Google hear most about your site's appearance in Google Search results.

How do I change the title link shown for my page?

Google Search shows a title link for each individual web result. This text is generally taken from the contents of the <title> element for that page (which is also the text that appears in the title bar of your browser). It may also be extracted from links pointing to the particular page.

Your page title gives Google additional information about the content of the page. Relevant, useful titles also help users decide which site to click in the results page.

Learn how to create useful titles.

I don't want a snippet (an excerpt from my site) to appear on my site's search results.

Google automatically attempts to extract the part of the page that's most relevant to the user's query. You can use the <meta name="robots" content="nosnippet"> tag to prevent Google from showing snippets, or you can help us pick good snippets by writing useful meta descriptions.

How do I get stars (or prices, or reviews) to appear on my site's search results?

Some sites use structured data to provide additional information, such as reviews, product data, and contact information. This can be very helpful to users, but it does require you to mark up your site's content in a very structured way. Learn more about how structured data works.

What's a cached version of a page?

Google links to the current version of a page, and it may also store a copy of a recent version of that page so you can see what it looked like recently, or view the stored ("cached") copy if the current page is not available. You can also view a text-only version of your cached page. Because search engines crawl mainly text, this is a great way to see how your page appears to Google. For example, if important content isn't visible in the text-only version of the page, it may be because it's embedded in an image or otherwise unavailable to search engines.

Why isn't my site listed in local business results?

If Google detects that your query is location based (for example, "seattle pizza") we'll display a map with relevant locations.

If you have a business or other location that is not showing up on a map in search results, make sure that it's been added to your Business Profile.

Get your site back on Google

If your site was removed or blocked from Google for some reason, you can request reinclusion:

How can I get images I own to appear across Google products and services?

There are many ways to have your images appear in Google products. From Google Maps to Google Search and beyond, we work hard to make sure that the imagery we show reflects the world around you in a variety of ways. Here are some of the ways that you can contribute your images to Google:

  1. To appear in Google Search, make sure that your images are discoverable by following our Google Images best practices.
  2. Create Web Stories that showcase visual content in more engaging ways.
  3. Contribute photos and videos directly to a place on Google Maps. You can earn points for uploading through the Local Guides program.
  4. Upload imagery to Search and Maps via your Business Profile. Adding business photos to showcase your products and services allows potential customers to find what you offer.